Project-Related Conference Presentations and Invited Lectures

Most important lectures:
  1. 9.-12.1.2016: “Making Precious Pills in Twentieth Century Tibet: Authority, Challenges, Transmissions.” Lecture presented and discussions held with students and faculty at the Institute of South and Central Asia, Charles University Praha, Czech Republic.
  2. 13.6.2016: “On the Sensory Engagement with Poisonous Substances: ‘Taming’ Poisons into Elixirs in Tibetan Pharmacological Practices.” Lecture presented at Ruhr Universität Bochum, Kaete Hamburger Kolleg.
  3. 21.-22.10.2016: “Mercury as a chülen in Tibetan traditions.” Paper presented during the workshop “Rejuvenation, longevity, immortality. Perspectives on rasāyana, kāyakalpa and bcud len practices,” organized by Dagmar Wujastyk, ISTB, Vienna University.
  4. 14.11.2017: “The Globalization of Asian Medicines” M.Sc. Medical Anthropology lecture, Introduction to Medical Anthropology, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK.
  5. 2.11.2017: “Precious Substances in Tibetan Pharmacopoeia: Exploring Tibetan Jewel Pill Ingredients.” Lecture presented at the Oxford Tibetan Graduate Student’s Seminar, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, UK.
  6. 26.-29.9.2017: “On the History and Manufacturing of Tibetan Precious Pills.” Lecture presented at the Department of South and Central Asia, Charles University, in collaboration with Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic.
  7. 14.2.2017: “Reformulations in Sowa Rigpa: Thinking about ‘classical formulas’ taking the example of Tibetan Precious Pills” ISA Regional Guest Lecture, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Participation in national and international conferences:
  1. 5.7.2016: “The Signature of Recipes: Authenticity and the Development of Precious Pill Formulas” presented at the panel ‘Knowledge and Context in the History of Tibetan Medicine,’ Conveners: William McGrath and Olaf Czaja, 14th IATS Seminar 2016 University of Bergen, Norway (19.-25.6.2016).
  2. 9.8.2017: “The Potency of Preciousness: Gems as Potent Substances in Sowa Rigpa Pharmacopoeia” presented at the panel ‘Materiality, Efficacy, and the Politics of Potent Substances,’ 9th International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine (ICTAM), Kiel, Germany (5.-12.8.2017).
  3. 11.8.2017: “Challenges in Translating Epistemologies of Toxicity in Tibetan Medical Texts and Ethnographic Encounters” presented at the panel ‘Translation of Asian medicine into English and other languages,’ 9th International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine (ICTAM), Kiel, Germany (5.-12.8.2017).
  4. 2.8.2017: “Entangled Efficacies in the Biographies of Tibetan Precious Pills” presented at the workshop: ‘Medicine and Yoga in South and Inner Asia: Body Cultivation, Therapeutic Intervention and the Sowa Rigpa Industry,’ Department of South Asian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna, Austria (1.-3.8.2017).
Organization of Symposia and Conferences:
  1. 1.-4.9.2016: organized and directed a 4-Day Workshop ‘Potent Substances’ between Asia and Europe in preparation for the FWF project funding application: Redefining Materia Medica in Tibetan and Himalayan Medicine and Buddhist Ritual at ISTB, Vienna University. Procured workshop funding from the European Association for South Asian Studies (2,500.- EUR); Co-sponsor: PADMA AG, Switzerland. An extensive planning meeting for this workshop took place with Dr. Cathy Cantwell and Jan van der Valk at Ruhr Universität Bochum, Kaete Hamburger Kolleg from 12.-15.6.2016.
  2. 6.-12.8.2017: Co-convener of the Panel (with Jan van der Valk) ‘Materiality, Efficacy, and the Politics of Potent Substances’ 9th International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
  3. 1.-3.8.2017: Co-convener and co-organizer of the Workshop (with K. Sabernig, D. Wujastyk, S. Kloos) ‘Medicine and Yoga in South And Inner Asia: Body Cultivation, Therapeutic Intervention and the Sowa Rigpa Industry,’ jointly organized by the University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences.